Boar Bonding - First Night

[Domzalm1]

Hi everyone,

I have recently lost one of my beautiful boys. He left a friend - around 2.5 years old Churchill. I also have two other boys that did not bond and are currently kept separate..... so that makes 3 single piggies. I have tried pairing them up in 2 combinations on 2 separate occasions and failed (really aggressive towards each other - fighting and clear lack of acceptance ) . Today I am trying my 3rd bonding session with last combination possible - Churchill and Marvel. So far so good. It has been around 5 hours . They settled after the initial chattering, rumbling, humping yawning and so on. There were few moments where I had to destruct them as it seemed like they are too close to a full on fight but eventually after nap all was well and I transferred them to C&C. That started a whole new wave of dominance behaviour and again I had to distruct them few times. Things have calmed down now and they are currently naping next to each other. My worry is that they will have a fight as soon as I leave them alone. So my question is : Do I need to keep on watching them and if so for how long. I am absolutely dreading tonight. Should I leave them together? Omg what would happen if they fall out overnight? Sorry that's a lot to read..

Would appreciate any advice
Thank you

Monika

 

[Wiebke]

Hi everyone,

I have recently lost one of my beautiful boys. He left a friend - around 2.5 years old Churchill. I also have two other boys that did not bond and are currently kept separate..... so that makes 3 single piggies. I have tried pairing them up in 2 combinations on 2 separate occasions and failed (really aggressive towards each other - fighting and clear lack of acceptance ) . Today I am trying my 3rd bonding session with last combination possible - Churchill and Marvel. So far so good. It has been around 5 hours . They settled after the initial chattering, rumbling, humping yawning and so on. There were few moments where I had to destruct them as it seemed like they are too close to a full on fight but eventually after nap all was well and I transferred them to C&C. That started a whole new wave of dominance behaviour and again I had to distruct them few times. Things have calmed down now and they are currently naping next to each other. My worry is that they will have a fight as soon as I leave them alone. So my question is : Do I need to keep on watching them and if so for how long. I am absolutely dreading tonight. Should I leave them together? Omg what would happen if they fall out overnight? Sorry that's a lot to read..

Would appreciate any advice
Thank you

Monika

The crucial point is how they are together when they wake up after their nap.
You can leave them overnight in the bonding pen if necessary; by then you should have a good idea of whether they will get on or not anyway. The one thing you can't do is separate boars while they are still bonding. The good news is that boars are upfront, so you should know where you stand before you go to bed by tonight.
Boars: Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?

 

[Domzalm1]

Thank you @Wiebke . I decided to leave them together overnight event hough there was still some chattering and rumbling going on. I did check on them at night but they seemed fine in corner of the c&c not snuggled but close to each other. This morning my boys were good. They seem to have agreed on who is the boss and the dominant piggy keeps on reminding the underboar that he is in charge.... humping etc ... not too excessive but I'm keeping an eye on them. There was no hidies in the cage yesterday and overnight. This morning I used cut blanket to create bit if a 'safe zone' in two corners of cage for them and currently they are sleeping one piggy in each hidie. I am very hopeful my boys will stay together all happy. Thank you again xx

 

[Wiebke]

Thank you @Wiebke . I decided to leave them together overnight event hough there was still some chattering and rumbling going on. I did check on them at night but they seemed fine in corner of the c&c not snuggled but close to each other. This morning my boys were good. They seem to have agreed on who is the boss and the dominant piggy keeps on reminding the underboar that he is in charge.... humping etc ... not too excessive but I'm keeping an eye on them. There was no hidies in the cage yesterday and overnight. This morning I used cut blanket to create bit if a 'safe zone' in two corners of cage for them and currently they are sleeping one piggy in each hidie. I am very hopeful my boys will stay together all happy. Thank you again xx

It looks like they are. You can introduce hideys, as long as they have two openings, so no boy can get trapped.
It is unfortunately a perpetuated myth that guinea pigs always snuggle up. Most don't and just sleep close to each other at the best for part of the time, so what you are witnessing is actual the normal pattern.